lt, the
peat suffers but little from the weather.

According to Schroeder, from whose account (Dingler's Polytechnisches
Journal, Bd. 156, S. 128) the above statements are derived, the peats
excavated under his direction, in drying thoroughly, shrank to about
one-fourth of their original bulk (became 12 inches x 3 inches x 3
inches,) and to one-seventh or one-eighth of their original weight.

c. _Machines for Cutting Peat._

In North Prussia, the Peat Cutting Machine of Brosowsky, see fig. 4, is
extensively employed. It consists of a cutter, made like the four sides
of a box, but with oblique edges, _a_, which by its own weight, and by
means of a crank and rack-work, operated by men, is forced down into the
peat to a depth that may reach 20 feet. It can cut only at the edge of a
ditch or excavation, and when it has penetrated sufficiently, a spade
like blade, _d_, is driven under the cutter by means of levers _c_, and
thus a mass is loosened, having a vertical length of 10 feet or more,
and whose other dimensions are about 24 x 28 inches. This is lifted by
reversing the crank motion, and is then cut up by the spade into blocks
of 14 inches x 6 inches x 5 inches. Each parallelopipedon of peat, cut
to a depth of 10 feet, makes 144 sods, and this number can be cut in
less than 10 minutes. Four hands will cut and lay out to dry, 12,000 to
14,000 peats daily, or 3100 cubic feet. One great advantage of this
machine consists in the circumstance that it can be used to raise peat
from below the surface of water, rendering drainage in many cases
unnecessary. Independently of this, it appears to be highly labor
saving, since 1300 machines were put to use in Mecklenburg and Pomerania
in about 5 years from its introduction. The Mecklenburg moors are now
traversed by canals, cut by this machine, which are used for the
transportation of the peat to market.[18]

[Illustration: Fig. 4.--BROSOWSKY'S PEAT CUTTER.]

Lepreux in Paris, has invented a similar but more complicated machine,
which is said to be very effective in its operation. According to Herve
Mangon, this machine, when worked by two men, raises and cuts 40,000
peats daily, of which seven make one cubic foot, equal to 5600
cubic feet. The saving in expense by using this machine[19] is said to
be 70 _per cent._, when the peat to be raised is under water.

11.--_The Dredging of Peat._

When peat exists, not as a coherent more or less fibrous mass, but as a
paste or mud,